Thursday, August 27, 2015

Summer only comes once a year, but it
isn’t the heat from outdoors that your home theater has to worry
about. Everyone knows that electronic devices, be they TVs or Blu-ray players
or even speakers should be left outside in the Sun —but
what about inside? Heat buildup of amplifiers and even those super-thin TVs can prove a problem —not
just becausethey affect the performance
of what you see and hear, but also because they can significantly impact
negatively on the overall life of your electronics. As an example, people often
put their audio system’s main unit (be it a stand-alone
amplifier or a combo with a built-in disc drive) inside a cabinet that’s
designed to keep the living room or bedroom’s decor from
looking “techy.”But since heat rises, that means hot
air is getting trapped inside and re-enveloping the components —and
that doesn’t change just because there’s some holes in the
back of the furniture for the cords to go through. And any air conditioning
keeping the room (and people) cool won’t be a positive here either. So what
to do?

The answer is to keep cool —for
your electronics, not just yourself. If putting in a new home theater, you can’t
do any better than to enlist the aid of professionals, like the folks at Just One Touch, who not only know what equipment is
needed and the best way to install a home theater in your home, but also know
how to make sure that the equipment stays within its optimal temperature range.

But for those who already have their home theater setup“locked down”or
want to take care of things for themselves, there’s a few things to
do, besides making sure there’s open space all around the component,
that will help to keep the electronics from being abused by the temperature.
And they are….

CABINET COOLING FANS

A nice piece of furniture holding that
new 4K TV will look great in a room, especially since
other electronics like disc players and cable boxes can be placed inside
shelves where they remain unobtrusive (in some cases a front glass door can
make the components seem even more hidden, while allowing the beams of an
infra-red remote to still send signals to them). But to avoid trapping the heat
inside, Cabinet cooling fans operate on the principle of forced air —they
“push”the heat out from the area they are
covering to the outside and so keep the component at about the same temperature
as the rest of the room. As can be imagined, these fans are precision devices
and so are not inexpensive. However there are many types available and prices
vary from the manufacturers so it’s not a “buy this or nothing”situation.

SPOT COOLING FANS

These little fans possess a simple
philosophy: they’re made to cover a small area and sit
directly on top of the electronic that is putting out heat. An example of this
would be to use one on top of an amplifier’s grill
holes. The spot cooler is designed with an attached temperature problem that
will “read”the temperature of the component and
so not turn the fan on until it is needed —making
for a more efficient use of electricity and the life of the spot cooling fan.
Additionally, in most cases the power for the spot cooling fan can be plugged
into the component it is protecting directly (through an AC outlet or a USB
socket) —eliminating the need to run wires.

HIDDEN WALL FANS

Flat panel TVs have become so
lightweight and thin that mounting them to walls is no issue at all. However
one of the prices to pay for this thinness is that the heat from the
electronics don’t have an easy exit path. A TV isn’t going to get as hot (nowhere as hot)
as an iMac, for example, does —but if mounted to the wall then heat
being trapped becomes an issue. The answer to this are hidden wall fans that
fit “behind”the TV in the spaces necessary for the
cabling and which take their power from the TVs USB ports (in most cases).
Having the air traveling and not remaining stagnant makes the difference.

Keeping your cool is important, but
keeping your home theater cool is even more so. Since each home theater is
different than the next, it’s important to assess what is needed
by looking at your setup and then deciding on the best way to keep the heat
from getting its way. Your home theater will thank you.